Protecting Sharks and People in a Data-Driven World.

From South Africa to Australia, Hawaii to Réunion Island, communities have long faced the same challenge:
How do they keep people safe from sharks bites — and do so responsibly?

For decades, high mortality nets and drumlines have been the standard approach. To some, a shark caught in a net looks like proof that the system works. But these measures harm sharks and also capture turtles, dolphins, rays, and other species — with negative ecological consequences.

The truth is, we still don’t fully understand how effective or costly these systems are. The data are often fragmented, inaccessible, or collected in ways that can’t easily be compared. Without shared evidence, it’s hard to know what’s truly working — or whether new, less harmful methods could perform better.

The Challenge: Decisions Without Shared Evidence

Across regions, data exist — from net programs, drone patrols, tagging studies, acoustic sensors, and citizen observations — but they rarely flow together. Each organisation, from governments to NGOs to tourism operators, holds a piece of the puzzle.

Without integration, it’s nearly impossible to:

• Measure the actual reduction in risk for swimmers,

• Understand the cumulative impact on marine life, or

• Evaluate alternative approaches on equal footing.

This leaves decision-makers relying on limited evidence, tradition, or public pressure, rather than a full, transparent picture of the situation.

A Smarter Foundation: Using eOceans to Connect the Dots

eOceans is designed to complement, not replace, existing shark safety systems. It creates a shared infrastructure where all relevant data — from patrol logs and bycatch records to environmental conditions and community reports — can be brought together and analysed consistently.

With that foundation, stakeholders can:

• Identify when and where real risk occurs,

• Quantify the ecological cost of different interventions,

• Compare the performance of lethal and non-lethal systems, and

• Communicate results through accessible, transparent dashboards.

This isn’t about taking sides in the shark safety debate — it’s about ensuring that decisions are based on the best available evidence, visible to everyone who has a stake in the outcome.

A New Era for Shark Safety

Shark safety doesn’t have to be a battle between public safety and conservation. It can be a collaborative, data-driven process that helps communities balance both.

With shared, transparent insights, governments and organisations can test what works, improve what doesn’t, and evolve beyond assumptions.

eOceans provides the platform to make that possible — connecting science, policy, and local experience into a single, living evidence base for safer, more informed decisions.

Because when it comes to coexisting with sharks — and protecting both people and the ocean — good data with rapid, comparative analysis needs to come first.